[menage]

I left Facebook shortly after they abandoned their own plans for a 3-day-week pilot scheme which I'd been very eager to join. Someone I'd worked with before was now head of engineering at a reasonable-sized tech company, and was willing to give the 3-day week plan a try for me.

This was right at the start of 2020, and only working 3 days a week definitely helped me avoid pandemic burnout. But unfortunately I ended up working the 3 days that had the most meetings (this was a double-sided effect - it made sense to work those days else I'd miss important meetings, and then important meetings that included me gravitated to those days). So I ended up with 3 days that were stuffed full of meetings.

This was unpleasant enough that when the division was sold to another company, I opted not to take the transfer (and staying with the old company wasn't an option, as part of the terms of the acquisition deal). I'm now doing some flexi-time consulting that, while not as lucrative, gives a lot more latitude for scheduling my time.

[menage]

I guess I should clarify that this wasn't the only reason I didn't take the acquisition transfer - it really wasn't clear that the acquirers knew what to do with the large number of smart people that they were basically acqui-hiring. But the heavy concentration of meetings caused by the 3-day week did influence my decision.